The Beatles (The White Album) (1968)

And here he came: the anti-Pepper, the Beatles dismantling their Joshua Tree. Gone are the perfect pop noises of yesterday and yesteryear. Gone are the cutting sounds that only dogs could make. Hear Gone was a kind of musical accreditation and appreciation (this was not an album for high school students). This was a band that threw everything they had from the vaults on their longest-running album. There were those who hated it (biographer Philip Norman and producer George Martin) and there were those who thought it was the best work of the four pieces (John Lennon certainly did). And however it may be heard, it is still a fascinating listen, which sounds fresh and provocative in the way its predecessor has remained in a museum of late sixties artifacts.

With songs ranging from the superb (‘Mother Nature’s Son’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’ and ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’), cerebral (‘Long Long Long’, ‘Goodnight’, ‘BlackBird’), pop (‘Martha, My Dear’, ‘I Will’), distressed (‘Yer Blues’,’ Helter Skelter ‘), comical (‘ Rocky Racoon ‘,’ Piggies’), gloriously ironic (‘Glass Onion’, ‘Sexy Sadie ‘,’ Back In The USSR ‘) delightfully disposable (‘ Wild Honey Pie ‘,’ Birthday ‘,), disjointed (‘ I’m So Tired ‘,’ Cry Baby Cry ‘) as well as some, frankly, embarrassing (‘ Savoy Truffle ‘,’ Obla Di-Obla Da ‘,’ The Continuing Story of Bungalow Bill ‘,’ Revolution 1 ‘and’ 9 ‘), both albums packed with copious amounts of music. Where ‘Physical Graffiti’, ‘London Calling’ and ‘Exile On Main Street’ demonstrated the zenith of their respective authors, this was an album that showcased the breadth, brilliance and flaws of the writings of Harrison, Lennon and McCartney, warts and all. Even Ringo Starr contributed his first song, but even he must have known he was being indulged with ‘Don’t Pass Me By’! (His next contribution, ‘Octopus’s Garden’, was a big improvement.)

If ever there was a Beatles album that deserved a movie biography (and yes, I’m well aware that there is a ‘Let It Be’ movie, that’s another story), then The Beatles’ ninth album would be the one. obvious contender. It was the album that laid the seeds for the irreconcilable breakup of The Beatles, John Lennon’s interest lies less with his three bandmates, but a new interest in Yoko Ono, Paul McCartney’s adherence to the perfect sound George Harrison’s irritation. (McCartney recorded three of the songs entirely by himself.) Even Ringo Starr felt the heat, making the bold decision to leave The Beatles for a few weeks (McCartney took over the drumming duties in their absence, and he does it quite well, his ‘Dear Prudence’ fills with imagination), discontent with the sessions and concerned about his drumming prowess. His notable twists on ‘Yer Blues’ and ‘Long Long Long’ should have put such concerns aside, but his brief departure proved prescient; within a year, both George Harrison (temporarily) and John Lennon (permanently) also took turns leaving the band.

And for an album titled ‘The Beatles’ (it was just nicknamed ‘The White Album’), many of the songs were primarily the work of one (or sometimes two) members. Lennon and McCartney sang ‘Julia’ and ‘Blackbird’ alone on their acoustic guitars, and they irritated each other by excluding the other partner’s participation in McCartney’s howl ‘Why Don’t We Do It In The Road?’ (one of his best rockers) and in Lennon’s execrable ‘Revolution 9’ (a collage without structure and without meaning). With the Lennon-McCartney partnership in name only, the two wrote a collection of versatile and tactile songs. The McCartney opening parody of Beach Boy ‘Back In The USSR’ rocked the same way that the 1920s ditty ‘Honey Pie’ loved it. Lennon’s ‘Dear Prudence’ was brimming with the tune McCartney once mocked for developing, ‘Happiness Is A Warm Gun’ sequenced three separate pieces of music along with the song that McCartney bragged to be the best on the record (and has! reason!). On ‘Birthday’ alone they sounded united, sharing the upbeat lead vocal as they had overflowed on ‘She Loves You’ and ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ just four years earlier.

Harrison, perhaps the most tired member of The Beatles and his disenchantment with the path of meditation (his passive but brilliant track ‘Not Guilty’, which explores his anguish over the failure of the other three to appreciate his time in India, was unceremoniously banned by the members of Off the album), he also broke their peace, bringing his new best friend Eric Clapton on the foray to play the scorching solo on ‘Guitar Gently Weeps’, improving the other members’ playing in the process. (McCartney’s piano and bass are especially good on this one.) Despite the orderly musicianship, the song’s power lay in its lyrics, perhaps the best Harrison had written to date. With the release of The Anthology CDs in the 1990s came a nude acoustic demo that Harrison recorded himself, and that was as powerful as his studio arrangement.

And it’s hard not to cry listening to Starr beat ‘Goodnight’ (a song Lennon wrote for his son Julian, later the inspiration for McCartney’s ‘Hey Jude’), alone in the studio with only George Martin’s piano. and an orchestra to accompany him. Sweet, and respectfully naive, it was an album closer to neither the sonic brilliance of Revolver’s ‘Tomorrow Never Knows’ nor the wet squid efforts of ‘Run For Your Life’, but rather a bland image of four men growing apart. , the most sincere of Starr. vocal on any Beatles record.

Yet despite these cracks, rarely had the band sounded as powerful as on ‘Yer Blues’ and ‘Helter Skelter’, the former an aggressive blues number embellished by Harrison’s stirling guitar work (Lennon would perform the song live with Keith Richards and Eric Clapton in tow, subsequently stealing Mick Jagger’s’ Rock N ‘Roll Circus’!), McCartney’s latest attempt to outplay The Who for playing dirty. Energetic and aggressive (‘Helter Skelter’ can be argued to be an early example of heavy metal), the song proved to be a beast noir for McCartney when Charles Manson used it as part of his violent crusade. The recording itself was controversial, stories of Harrison running with an ashtray on his head, perhaps mild hyperbole.

As controversial as ‘Helter Skelter’ was, it was reinforced by ‘Revolution 9’, Lennon’s first collaboration with future music partner Yoko Ono. A collage of voices, it did not have the power of ‘Voices Of Old People’ shown in Simon and Garfunkel’s ‘Bookends’ nor the brilliance of John Cage’s vast avant-garde work. Continuing slowly for eight stupid minutes, the song disgusted producer George Martin, and began an irritatingly horrible collection trend of albums that Lennon and Ono would record together (his nadir ‘Sometime In New York City’ is an excruciating listening, despite his brilliance in the world of art and politics, the music was not a collaboration that benefited both).

Lennon wasn’t the only Beatle whose indulgence won him over. McCartney’s ‘Obla Di …’ was a ‘tune’ of stupid lyrics and direction, one that drove the band almost to insanity as they recorded and recorded the track in many different ways and styles. Light to the extreme, this was a criticism that many critics would throw at McCartney during the 1970s when he released what many thought was superfluous pop.

And maybe that was the intention. With almost as many Ivor Novelloes and Grammys as hot dinners, perhaps the quartet needed the critics as little as they felt they needed each other (this may have turned out premature). ‘The White Album’ was never an art statement, nor was it a cultural spirit. Pepper behind them, the band knew they had the willpower and leeway to play what they wanted, when they wanted. And while it’s a flawed masterpiece, The White Album is still a masterpiece, his collection of his most forgiving over-play, played with enthusiasm and hooray.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *